Syrian rebels burn the grave of Hafez, the daddy of Bashar al-Assad

Syrian insurgent fighters destroyed the tomb of the late President Hafez al-Assad, father of ousted President Bashar, within the household’s hometown.

Movies verified by the BBC confirmed armed males chanting slogans as they walked across the burning mausoleum in Qardaha, northwest of the Latakia coastal area.

Rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept by way of Syria in a lightning offensive that toppled the 54-year rule of the Assad dynasty. Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia the place he and his household had been granted asylum.

Statues and posters of Hafez and his son had been taken down throughout the nation to the cheers of Syrians celebrating the top of their rule.

In 2011, Bashar al-Assad brutally crushed a peaceable pro-democracy rebellion, sparking a devastating civil struggle during which greater than half one million individuals had been killed and 12 million others pressured to flee their properties. fireplace.

Hafez al-Assad dominated Syria ruthlessly from 1971 till his dying in 2000, when energy handed to his son.

He was born and raised in a household of Alawites, a department of Shiite Islam and a spiritual minority in Syria, whose important inhabitants middle is within the province of Latakia, close to the Mediterranean coast, close to the border with Turkey.

Many Alawites – who make up round 10% of the nation’s inhabitants – have been staunch supporters of Assad throughout his lengthy keep in energy.

A few of them now concern being focused by the victorious rebels.

On Monday, a insurgent delegation made up of members of HTS and one other Sunni Muslim group, the Free Syrian Military, met with Qardaha elders and acquired their help, based on the Reuters information company.

The insurgent delegation signed a doc that Reuters reported emphasised Syria’s spiritual and cultural variety.

HTS and allied insurgent factions took management of the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday after years of civil struggle.

HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who has now began utilizing his actual title Ahmed al-Sharaa, is a former jihadist who severed ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. He not too long ago pledged tolerance towards completely different spiritual teams and communities.

The UN envoy for Syria stated rebels should put their “good messages” into apply on the bottom.

The American Secretary of State, for his half, declared that Washington would absolutely acknowledge and help a future Syrian authorities offered that it emerges from a reputable and inclusive course of respectful of minorities.

HTS has appointed a transitional authorities led by Mohammed al-Bashir, the previous head of the insurgent northwest administration, till March 2025.

Bashir chaired a meeting in Damascus on Tuesday within the presence of members of his new authorities and people of Assad’s former cupboard to debate the switch of portfolios and establishments.